The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-05-25


strike eight bellsl High noon in heaveni
With such anticipation, o veterans of the
American navyl I charge you bear up under
the aches and weaknesses that you still carry
from the war times. You are not as stalwart
as you would have been but for that nervous
strain and for that terrific exposure. Let
every ache and pain, instead of depressing,
remind you Of your fidelity. The sinking Of
the Weehawken off Morris Island, Dec. 8,
1868, was a mystery. She was aot under
fire. The sea was not rough. But Admiral
Dahlgren from the deck of the flag steamer
Philadelphia saw her gradually sinking, and
finally she struck the ground, but the flag
still hoated above the wave in the sight of the
shipping. II was afterwards found that she
sank from weakness through injuries In
previous service. Her plates had been
knocked loose in previous times So you have,
in nerve and muscle and bone and dimned
eyesight and difficult hearing and shortness
Of breath, many intimations that you are
gradually going down 1t is the service of
twenty three years ago that is telling on you
Be Of good cheer We owe you just as much
as though your life blood had gurgled through
the scuppers of the ship in the Red river ex-
petition or as though you had gone down
with the Melville off Hatteras Only keep
your flag flying as did the illustrious Wee
hawken.
Good cheer, my boysl The memory of man
is poor, and all that talk about the country
never forgetting those who fought for it is
an untruth. 1t does forget. Witness how
the veteran sometimes had to turn the hand
organs on the street to get their families a
living. Witness how ruthlessly some of
them have been turned out of office that
some bloat Of a politician might take their
place Witness the fact that there is not a
man or woman now under 80 years of age
who has any full appreciation of the four
years martyrdom of 1861 to 1865 inclusive
But while men may forget, God never for
gets. He remembers the swimming ham
mock. He remembers the forecastle. He
remembers the frozen ropes of that January
tempest. He remembers the amputation
without sufficient ether. He remembers the
horrors of that deafening night when forts
from both sides belched on you their fury
and the heavens glowed with the ascending
and descending missiles Of death, and your
ship quaked under the recoil of the 100
FOUNDER, while all the gunners, ac-
cording to command, stood on tiptoe,
with mouth wide open, lest the conclusion
shatter hearing or brain. He remembers it
all better than you remember it, and in some
shape reward win be given. God is the best
of all paymasters, and for those who do their
whole duty to him and the world the pension
awarded is an everlasting heaven.
Sometimes off the cost of England the royal
family have inspected the British navy,
unanswered before them for that purpose. In
the Baltic sea the car and czarina have re-
viewed the Russian navy. To bring before
the American people the debt they owe to the
navy go out with you on the Atlantic ocean,
where there is plenty of room, and in imagina-
ton review the war shipping of our three
great conflicts, 1776, 1912 and 1865. Swing into
line all We frigates, ironclads, fire RATS, gun
boats and men of warl There they come all
sail set and all furnaces in full blast, sheaves
Of crystal tossing from their cutting prows
That is the Delaware, an old revolutionary
craft, commanded by Commodore Decatur
Yonder goes the Constitution, Commodore
Hull commanding There is the Chesapeake,
commanded by Capt Lawrence whose
dying words were: Don't give up the ships"
and the Niagara of 1912, commanded by
Commodore Perry, who wrote on the back of
an old letter, resting on his navy cap: 1--WE
have met the enemy and they are ours"
Wonder is the flagship Wabash, Admiral
Dupont commanding; yonder, the flag
ship Minnesota, Admiral Goldsborough
commanding; yonder, the flagship Phila-
delphia, Admiral Dahlgren command
ing; yonder, the flagship San Jacinto,
Admiral Bailey commanding; yonder, the
flagship Black Hawk, Admiral Porter COM
handing: yonder, the flag steamer Benton,
Admiral Foote commanding yonder, the flag
ship Hartford, David Glascoe Farragut COM
manding And now all the squadrons of
all departments, from smallest tugboat to
mightiest man of war, are in procession,
decks and rigging filed with the men
who fought on the sea for the old flag ever
since we were nation. Grandest fleet the
world ever saw. Sail on before all agesl
Run up all the colorsl Ring the bellsl Yes,
open all the port holes! Unlimber the guns
and load and fire one great broadside that
shall shake the continents in honor of peace
and the eternity of the American unionI
But l lift my hand, and the scene has
vanished. Many of the ships have dropped
under the crystal pavement of the deep, sea
monsters swimming in and out the forsaken
cabin and other old craft have swung into
the navy yards and many of the brave spirits
who trod their decks and gone up to the
Eternal fortress, from whose easements and
embrasures may we not hope they look down
to-day with joy upon nation in reunited
brotherhood?
At this annual commemoration i bethink
that most of you who were in the naval SER
vice during our late war are now in the
afternoon evening of life. With some of
you it is 2 o'clock, o'clock, o'clock, 6
o'clock, and it will soon be shutdown.
If you were of age when the war broke out
you are now at least 4S. Many of you have
passed into the sixties and the seventies;
therefore it is appropriate that / hold two
great lights for your illumination-the ex-
ample of Christian admirals consecrated to
nrte4 4
Admiral Farragut.
Had the Christian religion been a cowardly
thing they would have had nothing to do
with it. In its faith they lived and died In
our Brooklyn navy yard Admiral Foote held
prayer meetings and conducted a revival on
the receiving ship North Carolina, and on
Sabbaths, far out at sea, followed the chap
lain with religious exhortation. In early
life, on board the sloop of war Natchez,
impressed by the words of a Christian
sailor, he gave his spare time for two
weeks to The Bible, and at the end of that de-
clared openly: "Henceforth, under all cir
cumStances, | will act for God" His last
words, while dying at the Astor house, New
York, were: Il thank God for all his good
ness to me. He has been very good to me-"
When he entered heaven he did not have to
run blockade, for it was amid the cheers of
u great welcome. Inc other CHRISTIAN adj
miral will be honored until the day when the
fires from above shall lick up the waters from
beneath and there shall be no more sea-
oh, while old oceans breast
Bears a white sail,
And Gods soft stars to rest
Guide through the gale
Men will him ne 'er forget
Old heart of oak,
Farraguti Farragutl
Thunderbot strokel
According to his own statement, Farraeut
was very loose in his morals in early man.
hood, and practiced all kinds of sim One day
he was called into the cabin of his father. who
was shipmaster. His father said: David,
what are you going to be, anyhow?n He
answered: Il am going to follow the sea-
"Follow the sea- said the father, "and be
kicked about the world and die in foreign
hospitals" NO." said David; II am going to
command, like you" NO." said the father;
IA boy of your habits will never command
anything and his father burst into tears and
left the cabin. From that day David Farra-
gut started ON a new life. Capt Penning-
ton, an honored elder of this church. was
with him in most of his battles and
had his intimate friendship and he
confirms, what I had heard elsewhere.
that Farragut was good and a Chris
tan. In every great crisis of life he asked
and obtained the divine direction. When in
Mobile bay the monitor Tecumseh sank from
a torpedo and the great war ship BROOKLYN.
that was to lead the squadron, turned back
he said he was at lQSs To be aSg nIaye Sc
oh, God, who created man and gave him
a